Writing Quality Articles to Promote Your Business > NetSparsh

Home
>
Web Site Promotion
>
Writing Quality Articles to Promote Your Business

Writing Quality Articles to Promote Your Business

Writing and distributing articles is fast becoming a popular method of website promotion.

However, if your articles are not high-quality, you defeat the whole purpose of using articles for promotion. Web publishers are looking for quality information to offer their visitors and subscribers.

As a web publisher myself, I will not use articles that have a lot of spelling and grammar mistakes. Per the terms of use, publishers are not allowed to alter articles, even if they have the time or inclination to correct all of the errors. If I come across an article with a lot of mistakes, I bypass it, even if the article itself contains a great message. If the author had taken just a little time to clean it up, it would have been perfectly usable.

While there are benefits to submitting your writing to the article databases alone, the primary goal of submitting articles is to allow other web publishers to use your material, thereby bringing more exposure and traffic to your website. If your articles are sloppy, they will not be used. Here are some general guidelines to writing quality articles:

Use a clear title - if you write an article about internet marketing, don't just title your article "Internet Marketing." Be clear about the subject of the article. For example, "Ten Ways to Increase Your Sales in Internet Marketing." Remember, the title is what will grab people's attention and encourage them to click through and read your article.

Proper spelling and grammar - take the time to be sure your article has no mistakes. Most web publishers can overlook a typo or two, but they will not use articles that need to be deciphered with a decoder ring! Most word processing software comes with a built-in spelling and grammar check. Take a minute to use it before submitting an article. Be sure you use the proper form of words that sound alike but are spelled differently and have different meanings. Example: "there, they're, and their" or "to, too, and two." Business-Words.com has an excellent Dictionary of words that sound the same. You can also reference Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr. online, for free. This classic reference book details the rules of usage for the English language.

Avoid excessive keyword stuffing - yes, I know you want your article to be keyword-rich to entice the search engines, but there is definitely such a thing as overkill! I read an article recently where the author used the term, "home-based online internet business" over and over and OVER again. Not once did he use the terms, "it, your business, the business," etc. As a result, the article was incredibly redundant and monotonous. Sprinkle your keywords throughout the article, but also think of some alternate keyword phrases you could use that would be just as effective. For example, this author could have used phrases like, "home-business owner, entrepreneur, internet marketing, and small business."

What is the focus of your article? - some articles I've read started with one topic and then quickly meandered onto other unrelated topics, never answering the question or solving the problem posed at the beginning of the article. They more closely resembled long, rambling opinion pieces. While those certainly have their uses, most web publishers are looking for an article that helps their readers solve a problem or learn something new. The best way to do this with your articles is to keep it simple. Start by asking a question or posing a problem, and then provide the answer. Don't veer off onto other subjects in that same article (unless it is a piece that touches on several interconnected topics, in which case you can use bullet points to define them).

Use a clear author bio - another article I read recently used no author bio. It simply listed the author name and website address. Put a little more thought into it than that. When I enjoy an article, I want to know something about the author, and what their website has to offer me. I won't click through to the author's website unless something compels me to do so. Tell the readers a little something about yourself. What is your experience and expertise? What does your website have to offer? Why should they click on your link? At the same time, don't make your bio too long, either. You don't have to give your entire life story, just a quick overview of who you are and what you do.

Bottom line: You don't have to be a literary genius to write a good article. Most web publishers are not looking for perfection. However, remember that your articles are representing your business or website. If they are sloppy, riddled with errors and generally poor quality, what does that say about you and your business?

First impressions count! Always strive to put your best image out there, and it will pay off considerably.

Wendy Betterini is a freelance writer and web designer who has been successfully working from home since 2003. In 2005 she launched http://www.CreativeWorkAtHome.com, a community and resource center for home-based professionals, and those who aspire to be. Visit today for tools, tips and information on how you can create your own home-based career, or further improve the one you already have!

In The News:

This RSS feed URL is deprecated, please update. New URLs can be found in the footers at https://news.google.com/news

NewsBusters (press release) (blog)
NYT Pressures Twitter to Stop 'Promotion of Fringe Hate Groups'
NewsBusters (press release) (blog)
Kang wanted to know why it was so difficult for Twitter to “rid its site of harassment, misinformation, and the promotion of fringe hate groups.” She found irony in Twitter requesting that no one on the team be named, saying that “it was striking that ...

The Japan Times
Support for working women growing in Japan, but smaller companies lag behind
The Japan Times
Last December, the ministry launched a smartphone site that provides information for job-seeking students on companies that are proactive about the employment and promotion of female workers. The site is part of the ministry's efforts to create ...

New York Times
Today's Supreme Drop Is All Over the New York Post
New York Times
The rush on The Post after a relatively quiet August weekend had nothing to do with the news and everything to do with a wraparound promotion with Supreme, the street wear brand whose items have become something more like religious iconography to its ...

and more »

CNBC
Airbnb hits a wall with its China Great Wall promotion
CNBC
U.S. short-term rental service Airbnb has hit a wall with its newest marketing scheme in China, after regulators objected to a promotion offering sleepovers on the Great Wall of China. The San Francisco-based company last week asked users in China to ...
Airbnb's Great Wall of China competition upsets Chinese social media usersSouth China Morning Post
Airbnb ends offer of stay at Great Wall... - People's Daily, China | FacebookFacebook

all 170 news articles »

Fortune
Early Amazon Prime Day Sales Were Up Over 50% Despite Website Crashes and Worker Strikes
Fortune
Amazon kicked off its big Prime Day sales promotion with technical glitches on its website and app, threatening its 36-hour sales extravaganza. Trouble on the site spiked just as the event began at 3 p.m. Eastern time Monday, but declined significantly ...
Amazon Suffers Tech Crash and Strikes During Prime DayBloomberg
Amazon Prime Day deals 'not what they seem'BBC News
Amazon Prime Day: Even With Website Crash, Company Touts Record Sales So FarVariety
Business Insider
all 3,814 news articles »

Publishers Weekly
Seven Stories Has New Indie Bookseller Promotion
Publishers Weekly
The discount will run for a month on the selected titles, and Seven Stories will simultaneously raise the price on the titles sold from its site. In a bid to help build awareness of the titles, Seven Stories will feature the books at a special discount ...

TCPalm
7-Eleven has sweet Slurpee deal now through Aug. 19
TCPalm
To help beat the summer heat, 7-Eleven is offering a double dose of brain freeze this week. Now through Sunday, Aug. 19, the convenience store chain is running a Share-a-Slurpee promotion. At participating 7-Eleven stores nationwide, buy any size ...

and more »

Catholic Herald Online (blog)
Is the Vatican giving a promotion to laypeople?
Catholic Herald Online (blog)
Instead, there was a change in name from “council” to that of the ambiguous “dicastery”. Arguably, the amalgamation of the council for the laity along with other pontifical councils means a demotion. While previously councils promoting the lay vocation ...

Mobile apps are now a crucial part of event promotion
bizEDGE NZ
He says it's time for organisers to embrace mobile apps as an integral part of events because they provide an engaging experience on-site, and they can further engage attendees long after the event has finished. Why is a mobile event application a ...

BBC News
Safety concerns over websites selling prescription drugs
BBC News
Panorama showed the site to Gino Martini, chief scientist for the Royal Pharmaceutical Society. He said: "As a professional body we do not support promotion of prescription-only medicines. "What I saw on that website was direct promotion to patients ...

and more »

Google News

Writing Quality Articles to Promote Your Business

Web Site Promotion Web Site Promotion